Roberto Martinez has claimed that he would have paid £100m for striker Romelu Lukaku. Everton managed to sign the Belgian in a deal worth £28m earlier this month.
The striker looks set to face his former team Chelsea for the first time since completing his switch this weekend. Boss Martinez is absolutely delighted to have him at Goodison Park and said he was a bargain at £28m: “It’s not about the value. I would have paid £100million for Lukaku. If I had the money, yes, why not? The figure is insignificant.
“It is about the character and type of player you want in the group. Sometimes a player at £3million can be an expensive buy and sometimes a player at £28million can be a very cheap buy.”
Speaking about the game against Chelsea this Saturday, Martinez doesn’t believe that Lukaku will have any extra motivation to do well against his old club, despite the fact he played just three times under Jose Mourinho. He said: “I know what you are saying.
“My answer is, of course, he is human and leading up to the game people will say ‘you are facing your old team-mates and manager’. That’s normal. But what I am saying is that his level of performance will not change from against Arsenal or Leicester.
“He is not going through the motions, he is raising his levels for every game. Every game he is fresh, so I do not see any difference at all for this game.”
By Charlie Gregory
Follow me on Twitter
@CharlieGLFC
